2 Samuel 15:19 Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Why go you also with us? return to your place, and abide with the king: for you are a stranger… Ittai of Gath was not only a heathen but a heathen of the heathens, a member of a race the most malignant of all the foes of the Church. Yet among the events of this day — a day over which the historian fondly if sadly lingers, more minutely and at greater length described than any other day of Old Testament history — an episode of which he is the hero finds a prominent place. It is not much we can know about him; but what we can that we desire to learn. Let us look at his environment and at himself; his People. his Position, and his Personality. I. HIS PEOPLE. Probably in a degree in which it can be said of no other country, Palestine has been the meeting-place and battleground of nations. From earliest historical times we find wave after wave of conquerors breaking upon, settling down, or passing over it; and there are not wanting indications that long before history began to be written the monotonous process had commenced. The shadowy forms of the earlier races can be dimly discerned, ghost-like, before the rising of the historic sun. Amongst the many pre-Hebrew arrivals and settlers — and, historically, the most important of them all — was the people to whom Ittai belonged, the Philistines. Concerning their origin, the events which led to their migration into Palestine, and the development of their power there, we know almost nothing — barely sufficient to suggest a few guesses. A reference to the genealogical table in Genesis (Genesis 10:14) suggests an Egyptian origin, whilst the Book of Deuteronomy and the Prophets Amos and Jeremiah speak of them as "Caphtorim out of Caphtor"; but the endeavour to fix a site for Caphtor has not yet been attended with success. Cappadocia, Cyprus, and Crete are all claimants; but the balance of opinion seems to incline in favour of the last-mentioned of the three. From whatever race they sprung, from whatever quarter they came, we find a tribe of them at the extreme southern limit of Palestine, on the route down to Egypt, as far back as the time of Abraham, though their very name — "strangers," or "emigrants" — indicates that they were arrivals in the country, and not aboriginals. We shall probably not be far wrong if we suppose a small swarm of "Caphtorim from Caphtor" (say, Cretans from Crete) hiving off and settling down upon the southern border of Palestine, where the fertile land shades off into the desert on the way to Egypt; there multiplying their number and developing their genius for war; civilising, casting off nomadic habits, and acquiring those of dwellers in cities; and in due course acquiring a greater proficiency in the arts and arms than any of the rude tribes around them. Then comes the great commotion to the North consequent upon the invasion and conquest by Joshua and his Israelites. The Philistines are too far off in their southern corner to feel the shock in any direct way; but their next-door neighbours, the Avites — who occupied the great plain lying between them and the new-comers, and on whose rich corn-fields they had doubtless cast many a longing eye — are shaken to their centre. Already three of their principal towns have fallen; the great Tribe of Judah, under the hero son-in-law of Caleb, presses sore upon them; half of the plain ("Shefela") is no longer theirs. We can then conceive of them, in their extremity and desperation, invoking the aid of their warlike and rising rivals along their southern side, who had already begun to intermarry and mingle with themselves. Nothing loth, the desired assistance is given, and soon Philistine swords — for the first time, but not for the last, by many a score — cross and crash with Hebrew spears. Four results follow: — 1. The first is a decided stop to Hebrew extension in that quarter. The captured cities are regained, and for many a day are thorns in the side of Judah, Dan, and Simeon. 2. The next is a permanent occupation by the Philistines of the territory into which they had come as allies. It was the richest part of all Palestine, excelling even the beautiful Esdraelon, and, moreover, its coast embraced the two best harbours between Egypt and Phoenicia. 3. Another result is a new name for that portion, and eventually for the whole, of Canaan. Henceforth the Plain is known from them as "Philistia" — a name which, thus derived from a heathen tribe in its south-western corner, has, curiously enough, in a slightly altered form, spread over, and to this day covers all of the Holy Land. It is an illustration of the irony of history that a name which we fondly cherish as a name holy and revered, should be thus a child of a pure heathen parentage. In vain Israel cultivated exclusiveness; ever and anon God compelled an indication of the universalism that was wrapped up in His Call. The very name which the Holy Land bears is a standing memorial of that "making of both one," which, being one of the counsels of God from the beginning, became realised in Him in whom Jew and Gentile find their meeting-place with one another and both with Him. 4. The fourth result is a great and rapid development of the Philistine power. The supposition of a second migration from .Crete, though quite possible, does not seem to be necessary. The fertility of their new possessions — the granary of Palestine — their commercial advantages, the great increase of numbers through the absorption of the Avites, Anakim, and possibly other tribes, including an influx of fugitive Amorites and Canaanites, and the separation of the dominant race as a warrior or fighting castle to the art and practice of war — these are considerations quite sufficient to account for such rapid development of power as the facts of the narrative require. With the institution of the monarchy and the establishment of a central authority in Israel, implying some amount of national cohesion in place of tribal isolation, the tables were turned. Saul inflicted many grievous defeats upon them; and after the accession of David and the perfecting of his military system they had small chance of success, in aggressive warfare at least, against their mere numerous foes. But, cooped up within their narrow borders, and forbidden aggressive war, this nation of soldiers seeks an outlet for its superfluous manhood in foreign service. As it was with Scotland and Switzerland three centuries ago, so was it with Philistia in Ittai's time. What the Scottish and Swiss Guards were at the Court of France, what the Varangian Guard was to the Greek Emperors at Constantinople, what the "Free Companies" were to the cities and princes of Italy, that was the Philistine guard at the Court of Pharaoh and the Court of David — a reliable body of mercenaries, whose duty it was, in a general way, to fight the sovereign's battles, and, in a special way, to guard the royal person. The nucleus of this guard appears to have been enlisted by David during his sojourn at Gath, where for a time he found a refuge from the persecuting jealousy of Saul. II. ITTAI'S POSITION. He was captain of these mercenaries, the Philistine guard, "the Cherethites and Pelethites," in David's service. We must conceive of him as a stranger among strangers, a soldier in a foreign employ, an exile from home and country — either voluntarily, through a desire to push his fortunes, or by necessity, because of some disagreement or quarrel with the "Lords of the Philistines." He is among those who, however much they may appreciate his sword, hate himself, his race, and his religion. He and his comrades belonged to a people who, possessing the qualities of strength and pertinacity, were by temperament sluggish, heavy, and dull-witted. Such is the character everywhere implied in the pictures of them given in Scripture: "They were almost the laughing-stock of their livelier and quicker neighbours — the easy prey of the rough humour of Samson, or the agility and cunning of the diminutive David" (Stanley's "Jewish Church.") In the city, and at the Court of Jerusalem, he and they would feel and would be regarded very much as Hereward and his Varangians felt and were regarded in the City and at the Court of Constantinople, as conceived by the historic imagination and pictured by the faithful pen of Scott in his "Count Robert of Paris." Ittai and his guard would be the objects and the butts at once of the contemptuous civility of the courtiers, and the stinging spite of the citizens. Almost inevitably, they would draw off, isolate themselves, and as a caste, hated and hating, live there lives by themselves, reserving all their sympathies for those within the limits of their own order. Thus were these "Cherethites and Pelethites" — outside the sympathy of the people and remote from the gossip of the bazaar — when the shameful rebellion of Absalom bursts upon the astonished guard as a bolt out of a clear sky. Meanwhile David and Ittai have met. The king looks into the face, illumined with the light of the noblest feelings that shine out from the heart through the windows of the eyes: nobility meets nobility; magnanimity accepts what magnanimity offers. Two great souls meet, embrace, and grapple each to each with hooks of steel. The simple acceptance of the service proffered; the delicate recognition that further remonstrance would have been almost an outrage; the tacit treatment of the question as closed; and the renewed enrollment into a service that is to last for life — all this and much more is enwrapped in the "Go, and pass over." The king's son was a rebel, his counsellor a traitor; how heart must have swelled and eye filled in the presence of devotion so unselfish and so strong in the stranger. III. THE PERSONALITY THAT IS HERE PRESENTED TO US. We know nothing concerning him save what we gather from these scenes. We see him only twice: once as, beside the brook Kedron, within stone-cast of Gethsemane, he vows the fealty he kept so well, and once as he marches out of Mahanaim at the head of his well-drilled corps. But as the naturalist from a single typical bone can construct the whole physical frame of the animal, so from these scanty yet typical facts the moralist can give the whole moral build of the man. We experience no difficulty in the endeavour to reproduce Ittai's moral structure. He is simplicity, fidelity, and affection embodied. 1. Simplicity, for there was no double purpose in his mind, nor double speech in his tongue; he had one loyalty and one only, a soldier's surrender to the king whose soldier he was; one aim and one only, a servant's service to the master whose man he was. 2. Fidelity, for selfish views and considerations seem to have found in him no place at all; he never asked, "Where is the sunny side of fortune, that I may seek it?" or, "Where the shady side, that I may shun it?" but, "Come weal or woe, be it life or be it death, I follow where faith leads." 3. Affection, too, for manifestly this wondrous poet-king had won his love and held his heart. There was about this David a marvellous power of attracting, subduing, and holding men. (G. M. Grant, B. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then said the king to Ittai the Gittite, Wherefore goest thou also with us? return to thy place, and abide with the king: for thou art a stranger, and also an exile. |
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